November 13, 2011

To Play a Part in the Lauding of, the Support of, or the Association with Any Institution that Overtly Discriminates Against a Group of People Is In Fact and Deed to Participate in the Discrimination Itself

What I am blogging about here today is a little dialogue that I had with the Democratic State Representative, Kate Hogan, 3rd Middlesex District, over her Facebook post about attending a ceremony for two young men who are to become Eagle Scouts. My pointing out to Rep. Hogan that the Boy Scouts of America continues to discriminate against gays earned me being "blocked" from her site and a quite nasty little private message sent by the Representative herself: "Tom, I dont know why you feel that you can say anything you want to me on my public facebook page. It is shocking to me."

Shocking? What is "shocking" is that out lesbian, Kate Hogan, would not avoid the Boy Scout event but instead used it publicly to further her career. What is also shocking is that I, a former contributor to the Representative's campaign, would be blocked for pointing out that the BSA discriminates against gays. I wonder if Rep. Kate Hogan is aware that the Boy Scouts will not allow any gays to be scouts and that it has even taken away Eagle Scout commendationsonce it learned a scout was gay. I wonder if Rep. Kate Hogan is aware that the Boy Scouts of America fought all the way to the Supreme Court (and won) for its right to discriminate against gays. I wonder if Rep. Kate Hogan is aware that the Boy Scouts of Americarefuses to allow any gay adults to serve as troop leaders and brought that before the Supreme Court also (and won). I wonder if Out Lesbian, Massachusetts State Rep. Kate Hogan is aware that the Boy Scouts of America banned a married lesbian couple from Vermont from volunteering in their 10 year old son's Cub Scout Troop activities with other moms. I wonder if Out Lesbian, Massachusetts State Rep. and Democrat, Kate Hogan, is aware that on the Congressional level, her fellow Democrats, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) just last year sent a letter to the Boy Scouts of America demanding that it END its discrimination against gays.

Oh, I think that Representative Kate Hogan does know of all these horrific accounts of how the Boy Scouts of America discriminates against our (and her) community. That is why she so quickly blocked me from her Facebook page and took the conversation "private." I suggest that Rep. Kate Hogan, understands all too well that she is actively participating in this discrimination when she attends this type of event. Which would make Representative Kate Hogan, Democrat MA 3rd Middlesex, a self-serving coward. And is that really all that "shocking?"

I remember back in 2007 when I attended MassEquality's private "World Cafe" which was a staged "community determination" event to see if MEQ should continue after the marriage equality win, one of the things I heard said was that MassEquality's machine would "punish" legislators (via elections) who did not side on the correct side of marriage equality. I actually had hopes. MassEquality actually wanted to become "New England Equality" and to push marriage equality into the other states. The MA Transgender Equal Rights Bill was to MEQ small potatoes at that meeting as its planted shills were at every table asking us all to support a move on New England for marriage work continuing its salaries and narcissism. If we punished existing lawmakers for not supporting marriage equality in the 2007 vote, then of course we would work to not allow those who clearly were Anti-LGBT Massachusetts Family Institute or MassResistance minions to be elected in the future, right?

Last week when I wanted to find out what was happening regarding this special election, I made the calls to MassEquality, MTPC, The Caucus, and Mass Alliance. What MEQ's Field Director, Chris Rileytold was that the extent of MEQ's involvement in this race was that it sent an email to constituents asking them to support the Democrat. When I asked if the Democrat, Ralph Brunelle, Jr. was for the MA Trans Bill, I was told, "we think so." I asked if a questionnaire that was specific to the Trans Bill was answered correctly by Brunelle. Riley said that she did not think that a specific question pertaining to the MA Transgender Rights Bill was asked of Brunelle. I was told, however, that Mass Alliance who endorsed the Democrat were the ones responsible for said questionnaire not MassEquality and that according to Riley, some sort of question pertaining to Transgender Rights most certainly would have been part of this questionnaire that Mass Alliance used in its endorsement process. Mass Alliance of course is the Coalition of Progressive Organizations ranging from Clean Water Action, Various Unions such as the Boston Teacher's Union, Mass Teachers Association to MassEquality, the Sierra Club, etc.

So, Chris Riley, MassEquality's Field Director with its Political Director coaching her in the background did not think a legislatively specific question was asked of a key candidate on what our community considers its # 1 priority, The MA Transgender Equal Rights Bill, nor could she tell me if the gist of the pro-Trans questions asked on the Mass Alliance questionnaire were about Trans Rights in general or Trans Rights as presented on the Democratic State Party Platform.

Jordan Berg of Mass Alliance was a bit more knowledgable about Democratic Candidates' support for pro-LGBT legislation than MassEquality. Though Jordan was not able to cite or quote the specific question or answer to my Trans Equal Rights Bill concern, he was able to tell me that Ralph Brunelle, Jr. answered it correctly. Funny, Brunelle and his campaign director refused to respond to any of my inquiries about his support or lack of support for the bill, but Mass Alliance assured me he was good on the Trans Bill. When I asked Jordan Berg why MassEquality said that they did not believe a specific question about the Trans Bill was asked of Brunelle, Berg's comment to me was, "We (Mass Alliance) are the ones that tell MassEquality what to do when it comes to endorsements." Ah.......

Since my first assertion on Facebook about this12th Bristol Race before the Special Election, I was inundated by emails of concerned people, MassEquality supporters, who had not heard anything about this race of a bigot and her Pro-(?) lgbt opponent. But each and every one of these concerned gays told me that they had been hearing alot about MassEquality and the Taste of Provincetown Party all summer long. If Massachusetts keeps losing seats to the anti-lgbt nutbags such as Keiko Orrall and Kris Mineau and Brian Camenker keep playing better politics than our well-funded MassEquality and its coalition...we will ALL be "Partying Like It's 1999." And you remember what rights we had back then...

September 01, 2011

We all know that standing up for what is right and speaking out to defend others is the right thing to do, yet for many it is the most difficult. Not so for David J. Breen, Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Boston University, current Fenway Health Board Member, and former Board Member of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. David was the only one in a packed house who chose to publicly confront Candidate for Boston City Council, District 3, Doug Bennett, for Bennett's multiple transphobic references at DotOUT's Candidate Forum at the Ledge in Dorchester last Monday night.

KnowThyNeighbor.org attended DotOut's Candidate Forum and Endorsement Event, held on August 29, 2011, to witness whether or not another District 3 City Councilor Candidate, John O'toole, could be palleted by the Dorchester LGBT that make up this powerful community organization for his having signed the petition to end same-sex marriage back in 2005. The answer to this was "no." O'Toole's explanation was all over the place and DotOUT activists publicly rose to request that others not endorse him. O'Toole a once community favorite was knocked out in the first round of votes and DotOUT's Endorsement went to Craig Galvin.

But what transpired between David Breen and District 3 Councilor Candidate Doug Bennett took for me center stage. Bennett, the only of the ten candidates to NOT fill out DotOUT's Candidate Questionnaire (which by the way included as its first question Support for Transgender Rights), began his Transphobic Demonstration by declaring his support verbally for "The Bathroom Bill." I kid you not. The room remained without reaction. No other candidate corrected or admonished him, nor did any of the room full of LGBT Dorchester voters or politicos such as Felix Orroyo, Suzanne Bump or Sonja Chang-Diaz. And at Bennett's first go around, neither did moderator and BayWindows Editor, Sue O'Connell.

And it got worse as later on during the question and answer period when asked what candidates would do to stop crime in Dorchester, Doug Bennett, said that right out this door there are at least twenty-five prostitutes that work the street and about four of them are "men dressed as women." Again, no retort from the room. Maybe it was shock, maybe it was fear of making a scene, maybe it was acceptance of Bennett's ignorance. I know that many if not most Transgender people reading this are most likely saying right now that they are not surprised at the reaction.

Then at the last round of public questions which were pushing for answers about same sex marriage and the 2005 petition, Doug Bennett acknowledged once again that he signed the petition in 2005 along with O'Toole, but he supports "gay marriage" though "wanted Massachusetts to vote on it" and he supports "The Bathroom Bill." This is when David Breen brought the forum to a halt by yelling out, "You don't call it the Bathroom Bill. Do you realize how offensive that is to our community. Do you even understand why it is offensive to say Bathroom Bill?" Bennett responded, "Because it is called the Bathroom Bill at the State House!" And then, another candidate, Marydith Tuitt, yelled out "Oh, no it is not, it's called the Transgender Equal Rights Bill!"

David Breen's action caused Sue O'Connell to ask David to explain to the room why the term "Bathroom Bill" was offensive and David responded, "this is what the Far Right uses to demean transgender people." O'Connell then took stage and explained to all candidates that many of us in the room are minorities. She suggested that everyone think about the absolute worst fears that the majority opinion would create to demonize the minority you represent. And then to take that message and to "put it on a bumper sticker" and "that is what referring to The Transgender Equal Rights Bill as 'The Bathroom Bill' would be like."

Later on that evening I heard Breen speaking to Bennett. Doug Bennett apologized to Breen for referencing the term "Bathroom Bill." I interjected and explained to Bennett how equally offensive and dangerous it was for him to make the references that he did about the prostitutes as "men in dresses." He apologized for that also. What worries me is that Bennett claimed in the forum to have been making his rounds, door to door in Dorchester, meeting voters, many of which were in the room. At what other places did Bennett use the term "Bathroom Bill?" It concerns me that he was not reprimanded at some other point. Maybe the MTPCshould make a telephone call to Bennett immediately.

I was impressed with DotOUT's forum. I saw a questionnaire that gave the Transgender Equal Rights Bill first billing. I was impressed by the nine candidate's comprehensive and supportive answers to the trans bill even though technically as Boston City Councilor's they have no direct vote on the bill. I was impressed by the many activists who rose up to challenge John O'Toole on his name being associated with a petition which would have stopped marriage equality. But I am doubly impressed with Mr. David J. Breen for standing up for Trans People and calling out bigotry and ignorance.

Tom Lang, Director

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To VIEW the answers to All the Boston City Councilor (District 2,3 and 7) Candidates' Answers to DotOUT.org's question on Transgender Rights see below link

From DotOUT.org's August 29, 2011 Candidate Forum Held at The Ledge in Dorchester, MA for Boston City Councilor Candidates Districts 2, 3, AND 7.

Question #1: As a Boston City Councilor, do you support non-discrimination laws protecting the transgender community and what actions have you or will you take to ensure the passage of this important legislation?

From DotOUT.org's August 29, 2011 Candidate Forum Held at The Ledge in Dorchester, MA

Suzanne Lee (District 2): I believe that one of the most integral parts in the current movement for social change is the protection of our transgender friends and neighbors. I fully supported the transgender resolution that the City Council passed unanimously this year, and I believe that we need to continue our efforts to both educate the public and work with the state legislators to pass statewide transgender rights legislation. As a City Councilor I would work closely with transgender rights organizations such as MTPC and MassEquality to help fight discrimination here in Boston and to help aid our state legislature to finally bring transgender equal rights legislation to Massachusetts.

As both an immigrant and a woman, I have battled racial and gender barriers my entire life. Through my decades of work in the community I have fought discrimination in any and every form. I founded and chaired the Chinese Progressive Association over 30 years ago, and we have worked with the Chinese community as well as across Boston to fight discrimination and build a movement for social change. I see the transgender community as an important part of this movement, and believe working for transgender rights is the next step in my work for social change.

Marydith Tuitt (District 3): I believe we should accept everyone for themselves, I am supportive of the transgender bill now on the books on Beacon Hill and with my boss in trying to get it passed.

Martin Hogan (District 3): I have for a long time supported the rights of all and I will continue to do so. I will fully support any and all legislation that supports non-discrimination laws. We have come too far in this country and specifically the city of Boston to allow that type of hatred and divisiveness to fester in our neighborhoods.

Stephanie Everett (District 3): As a Boston City Councilor I would strongly support non-discriminating laws that protect the transgender community. I applaud the siting Council members for unanimously passing An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights in March. I was honored to serve for a Senator who co-sponsored An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights (S. 764), ans as a City Councilor would work with my state counterparts to encourage the passage of the bill.

Craig Galvin (District 3): Yes, I support non-discrimination laws, and I will aggressively advocate for legislation that promotes equality and secures civil liberties for all residents. I will continue to support and encourage others' participation in public outreach and education that promotes inclusion and celebrate all aspects of life experiences.

John O'Toole (District 3): As was previously reported, I do support non-discrimination laws protecting the transgender community. I would lobby the representatives in the house an senate to encourage passage of this legislation.

Frank Baker (District 3): Yes. As a City Councilor, I would have no direct legislative authority over the bill, but I would speak with my contacts at the state level to encourage passage.

Tito Jackson (District 7): Yes, I do support non-discrimination laws protecting the transgender community. I am immensely proud of the Patrick Administration's Executive Order that protects Transgendered State Employees from discrimination. As a City Councilor, I will work with my colleagues on the Council and our counterparts in the State House to protect Transgendered people from discrimination by passing the Transgender Equal Rights Bill. This piece of legislation should be law. In the wake of the death of a transgendered woman who was beaten to death in Chelsea, it is about more than just providing equal rights, it is about shielding them from violence.

Sheneal Parker (District 7): As a prospective City Councilor, and a proactive citizen of minority decent I support non-discrimination laws. Gender Identity like sexual orientation is not a choice or something that should be debated by anyone but the individual person. Throughout the last decade we've witnessed how groups have been alienated and targeted and we must do what we can to protect them........We must be clear on the seriousness and illegality of harassment, prejudice, discrimination or hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

June 12, 2011

What Is Being Described by Some Boston LGBT Who Attended Saturday's Boston Pride March 2011, The Appearance of John K. O'Toole, Candidate for District Three Boston City Councillor, as "A Misleading Representation of His Support for the LGBT Community," the Candidate Himself Begs to Differ

Whether it was activism on the part of a so far "anonymous" person advocating for the LGBT Community or a political stunt perpetrated by one of the campaigns in the Boston City Councillor, District Three race, Saturday's Boston Pride March yielded the name of one particular candidate, John K. O'Toole, who did in fact sign VoteOnMarriage.org's Anti-Gay Marriage Petition back in 2005.

KnowThyNeighbor.org received an email Saturday from Alex Scheufler who attended Boston Pride 2011 of a photo of one of at least a dozen laminated posters along the parade route which copied candidate, O'Toole's, name and address from the KnowThyNeighbor.org website which houses the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Database of the list of signatories on the Ballot Initiative from 2005 which if successful would have retracted the Goodridge Decision and ended Marriage Equality here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These posters which faced outward towards the crowd included a red circled X and clearly and boldly spelled out "Don't Elect John O'Toole, He Works Against Us."

As a point of clarification, no one at KnowThyNeighbor.org was responsible for these posters. However, this type of activism IS exactly what our core mission advocates and encourages. KnowThyNeighbor applauds those who take it upon themselves to stand by their own personal activism. We provide the lists of those who sign anti-LGBT petitions and our blog is replete with facts and names of those who contribute to, are involved with and are complicit in campaigns that would hurt our whole community. Some of those names would surprise you.

But as always, I ask those activists who are being brave and standing up for themselves and our community to remember--KnowThyNeighbor is about empowerment through dialogue. Dialogue IS the silver bullet. It is important to hear from a signer why he or she signed this anti-gay petition. You may all remember Mike Cahillane for District Attorneywho said he signed the anti-gay petition knowingly in an exchange for that signature gatherer's signature on the Greyhound Rights petition that Cahillane was sponsoring--not good! And of course, can we not forget Mary Z. Connaughton for Auditor, who refused to answer why she signed the anti-gay petition, claiming it was none of anyone's business, even when grilled by NECN--equally not good. But these candidates and politicians all have phone numbers listed on line and Candidate for District Three Boston City Councillor, John K. O'Toole is no exception.

At 4:33 PM, June 11, 2011, Candidate John K. O'Toole, returned KnowThyNeighbor's call. He was unaware of the posters which were lining the Boston Pride Parade route. He was made aware of the fact that his name appeared on KnowThyNeighbor as a signer of the anti-gay petition about 4 months ago and he claims to have faxed an affidavit to KnowThyNeighbor about 1 month ago. We are checking into that. Mr. O'Toole would like to see his actual signature, but I reminded him that this is nearly impossible as those records at the Secretary of the Commonwealth are most likely destroyed.

John O'Toole claims to have signed many petitions during the 2005 ballot initiative cycle including beer and wine in supermarkets, dog rights etc. He made it very clear to KnowThyNeighbor.org that he is not happy with his name being associated with the Anti-Gay Marriage petition and that he has taken very forthright actions to support Marriage Equality from political and personal perspectives. The former as being a co-signer of a 2007 petition which was drawn up by the Dorchester pro-LGBT activist group, DotOUT, as a tool to lobby Senator Jack Hartto switch his vote on Marriage Equality before the last vote. John O'Toole has also marched in three separate Boston Pride Parades and when asked by us, he immediately spoke out in favor of the current Transgender Equal Rights Bill which is in committee and before the Massachusetts Legislature.

Richard O'Mara, Dorchester Activist and DotOUT Steering Committee Member, had much to say about this. According to O'Mara, DotOUT has not yet given its endorsement in the District Three City Councillor race and from a personal standpoint, the appearance of John O'Toole's name on the KnowThyNeighbor list of signers of the anti-gay marriage petition disturbs him. "I have not jumped on to support John (O'Toole) yet and am not comfortable with him yet due to his signing," said O'Mara, "To the best of our knowledge, he signed, and John needs to do some explaining. He needs to address it." O'Mara also said that his own feelings about John O'Toole's signing are known all the way up to Mayor Menino's office and mentioned the Mayor himself and Justin Holmes as being aware of this.

In the many phone calls that KnowThyNeighbor made to provide fair coverage of this story, it was suggested to me from two separate unrelated sources that fingers are being pointed at one campaign for having created these anti-O'Toole posters which were dispersed and mounted throughout the Boston Pride Parade Route. Both sources suggested the Craig Galvin campaign as the alleged perpetrator. One source said, "Craig Galvin's campaign has been making a very big deal about John O'Toole being a signer of the anti-gay petition for weeks now." Craig Galvin, who also marched with supporters at Boston Pride this Saturday is running for the same City Councillor seat as John O'Toole.

When I confronted Craig Galvin about these alleged accusations, Galvin stated that no one from his campaign that he knows of was responsible for these posters. Galvin also stated that he and his fellow marchers were very aware of the posters along the route and that they saw the posters on Saturday "like everyone else did." Everyone else (apparently) did not include John O'Toole or O'Toole's seventeen fellow marchers according to O'Toole. KnowThyNeighbor needs to point out that these posters were strategically mounted to sign posts along the route facing outward so that parade onlookers would see them, not the participants in the march itself. Craig Galvin is a Marriage Equality supporter and wanted me to know that it is a "big issue" to him as he is a supporter of Constitutional Rights. Like with O'Toole, I asked Galvin how he felt about the current Transgender Equal Rights Bill before the Legislature and while his initial response to me was, "I thought you were going to ask me questions about the Pride Parade" and "I need to look into the Transgender Bill and get back to you," he did call me back later that evening and told me that he supports it.

Some things never change. Politics will always be politics and the truth may not always be told. I am sure we will be hearing much more about this race for the Boston City Councillor, District Three seat. LGBT people have alot of soul searching to do and hopefully so do the candidates. One thing though, it seems that we have not forgotten about the wounds that were inflicted upon us in our continued fight for equality.

March 14, 2011

A puzzling, interesting and to many seemingly psychotic turn of events this past week as ENDAblog alleges malfluence perpetrated by "front page" lgbt blogger, Lurleen, at Pam Spaulding's "Pam's House Blend." According to Kathy Padilla, her posts were deleted from Pam's House Blend for daring to question Lurleen if a conflict of interest exists that would stifle or delay Transgender Rights in Washington State or nationally. From ENDAblog and with additional research on ERW's site bios, we find that Lurleen or Lurleen Blogovitch is indeed Laurel Ramseyer, Equal Rights Washington's Communications Director, so there never should have been any issue with "outing" this person. Some in the Transgender Activist Community see much of Gay Inc as "marriage-centric," placing Trans Rights on the back burner and it appears that this may have been Kathleen's concern with Lurleen.

ENDAblog removed this post yesterday, January 8th, but KnowthyNeighbor.org has re-posted it here. The reason for deletion according to ENDAblog was in response to Lurleen's explanation that she "panicked" when she blocked Kathleen and subsequently accidently removed all of Kathleen's posts from the last 5 years. The reasons for Lurleen not responding to Kathleen's emails or others comments and posts were never reasonably explained.

This has become a bit of a personal issue for KnowThyNeighbor as if it is true, and there is no reason to doubt the facts, that Laurel Ramseyer works for Equal Rights Washington then she was indeed acting as a sockpuppet for Josh Friedes at Equal Rights Washington during the Referendum 71 battle which could have redacted by people's amendment the Expanded Domestic Partnership Rights of WA for same gender (and opposite gender couples). I remember Josh Friedes during that fight calling me to tell me that KnowThyNeighbor via our affiliate WhoSigned.org must not post names of the signers of the anti-gay Referendum 71, that "Lurleen" is working on a piece that would criticize our strategy and he asked me in such a way whether I "knew who Lurleen was?" like she was some sort of force to be reckoned with. All the while "Lurleen" was Laurel Ramseyer part of Josh's minions and is now ERW's Communications Direction possibly acting in a consultant capacity.

KnowThyNeighbor.org and WhoSigned.org met the scorn of "Lurleen" but as I said before the surprising thing was that Pam Spaulding was complicit in this. I sent Pam emails asking for an explanation but was not contacted by Pam but instead by Lurleen who bragged that "Blenders" are privy to Pam's emails. KnowThyNeighbor and WhoSigned.org rose up to push the dialogue in Washington State about the necessity of speaking to those who would sign petitions that would take away one's rights. This is just not applicable to marriage equality but to any set of rights, including Transgender Rights which might be forced to be defended in a Ballot Initiative. The Maine Marriage fight and the Washington State Ref 71 were set up to give the illusion of the lgbt response being "homegrown." It was the furthest from homegrown imaginable--it was a union of Gay Inc with the Netroots Bloggers like Spaulding calling the shots on strategy and online media response. KnowThyNeighbor.org was told to "stay out" of WA and ME because I was from Massachusetts. Yet in WA State alone Josh Friedes was from the Massachusetts FTM and part of the MassEquality Coalition, Josh Cohen, ERW/WAFST tech lead/communications heralded from New Jersey, Monies were sent from EQCA by Marc Solomon (though Maine received a substantial amount more), bloggers from around the nation controlled messaging via list serves, and Lurleen made attempts at discrediting KnowthyNeighbor's importance, the least of which was in sending an email calling us "carpetbaggers" while she herself was a MassEquality export and maintained a presence under the pseudonym, Laurel, in the largest liberal Massachusetts blog, BlueMassGroup.com throughout the Ref 71 Campaign. To this day "Laurel" at BMG tries to influence MA politics.

The fight for Equality will take all of our efforts.The leading wins that we have had required all strategies, all lgbt, all allies, engagement of the electorate etc. The Transgender Rights battle with Inclusive ENDA and various statewide Transgender Protection Bills, Marriage Equality and others will require this same strategy--the strategy of "wanting to be treated as Equal Americans." These sockpuppets, power grads, battles of online prowess directed against our activists have got to stop. People like Lurleen Blogovitch aka Laurel Ramseyer would be a much more effective activist if she came out of her own closet of fear and neuroses.

Right now, its just a placeholder – for a post about something that has happened…

something that I saw happen…

something that I have images of…

something that is, well…

totally deranged.

[UPDATE]

Marriage Derangement Syndrome…

Does it cause schizophrenia?

Spontaneous cloning?

Or just conflicts of interest?

Yes Monty, it would be door number three! Now, granted, one can be forgiven for mistaking door number three for door number two:

Of course, you could also be forgiven for getting confused as to whether you’re watching ABC or CBS. You see, I have been using Let’s Make a Dealallusions, but one to The Price is Right is appropos as well – given that if your guess as to the price of your Showcase is close enough to its actual retail price, then you get both Showcases.

And…

When your conflict of interest appears to be creating a fake online identity to mask your involvement (under what one would presume is your real name) with (and what would presume is a vested interest in promoting) same-sex-marriage-primacy when you participate, in a quasi-official capacity, in threads in which you pimp the discredited notion that pushing same-sex-marriage helps trans people as individual trans personsAND using that quasi-official capacity to boot a dissenter who did notactually publish personal information about you but merely publicly inquired as to whether an unidentified someone with certain qualifications ‘A’ might have a conflict of interest by acting in certain capacity ‘B’…

then one can understand why doors two and three might be applicable.

Having said that, I might suggest not asking to see what Jay Stewart has in his box when next he walks down the aisle. My buddy Kathleen mysteriously disappeared.

Words that she had already utttered were un-uttered – but not by her.

Yes, her voice just drifted off into the night…

I’ve still had not even a notice that my account was deleted or a response to my emails asking for info.

…and who knows where her cyber remains might turn up. Perhaps right here at ENDABlog!

She wants to be out about being [Capacity 'B'] & about being the Communications Director working mostly on marriage online have others no be permitted speak of this public info. While at the same time have the ability to link the two publicly for her benefit – but punish others for even questioning whether disclosure is warranted.

Yep…

That Marriage Derangement Syndrome thing is pretty nasty.

Well, I know what people with Marriage Derangement Syndrome don’t give a rat’s ass about: compromise on anything other than trans rights.

And at least one of them doesn’t really seem to get if you out yourself, then when someone else copies or points to what you outed yourself with, then that second personn really isn’t outing you about what you were initially ‘in’ about…

…and, instead, what you’re being outed about is having a major conflict of interest.

And I’m outing her here as having committed an egregious act of transphobic cyber-bullying by (apparently) unilaterally booting Kathleen off of a major LGBT blog after having outed herself via her own references to Equal Rights Washington – which are only one google-laden mouse click away from http://neworganizing.com given that a nice chunk of the bio there is identical to the one at ERW – and her involvement in it and having done so in a forum that anyone could read and multiple-google-click away from. Has she now committed this cyber hate crime against Kathleen because she realized she actually outed herself and erasing Kathleen’s existence at that blog is the only way that she can come close to un-outing herself?

Do a text search on the page from which I took the ERW image snap. The name of the blog in question appears in only one of the bios. If “Lurleen” didn’t out herself in that reply to Kathleen, then she apparently outed some other “front page blogger” at that blog – in which case, it is Lurleen and not Kathleen whose existence should be erased from that blog.

But, that’s not the case.

Look at the photos.

“Lurleen” outed herself – and she apparently not only wants to make Kathleen pay for it but feels that she is so much better than us scummy trans scum that she doesn’t even need to directly inform Kathleen of what she is asserting to be the reason that Kathleen’s existence was erased from that blog.

[S]he acted as the judge in her own complaint? Sweet deal! Very fair.

But, that’s par for the course.

Trans people have been paying the price for the indulgences of people afflicted with Marriage Derangement Syndrome for many years now.

Hmmm…never once thought that the agenda of Gay Inc. would impose itself on the blogosphere by trying to silence a transgender person’s voice. I am shocked and awed!Add to the fact that Laurel Ramseyer is a communications director is just as shocking!

Does Pam of Pam’s House Blend condone this behavior of one of her front page bloggers? Inquiring minds want to know. Transphobia is still transphobia, regardless of the guise.

I emailed Pam & Autumn to ask what happened on Saturday. Autumn said she would get back to me in her response of the same day, Pam has not replied to my email.

Even if they agree with the action – (notice & a warning is indicated by the PHB terms of service – with deletion of that comment) – and I dispute the validity as I redacted Laurel’s name – a response is surely appropriate.

Kath, call me tomorrow if you get a chance. I am fuming over the fact that a paid staffer of an organization is spewing transphobic remarks under a pseudonym and then gets you banned for calling her out on it.It’s not like she is in the closet and you outed her. You outed her for who she really is. A transphobic bigot, posing as an activist! Screw her and any blogger who allows this to happen.

I have no knowledge of whether she actually is or is not – but (1) a lot of people who have damaged our political viability over the years have not actually been paid staffers of any gay org, and (2) we should not give her a ready-made nugget that she can accurately point to and say ‘See! They’re wrong about that, so they must be wrong about everything!’

I sent this over to Bil Browning at Bilerico because his site is one of the key places Lurleen and her codependent, Joe Mirabella, uses to cement their deceit,lies and control into the blogosphere. Browning knows how prevalent they are as posters and commenters and I told him that what happened to Kathleen is a major issue here.

I look forward to Sandeen being erased from Pam’s in all fairness since Sandeen published my full name AND a copyright protected picture of me a couple of years ago when I was on Pam’s under a nick name. This was part of a character assassination of me by Sandeen at the time for being a feminist.

And this same Lurleen who worked on Ref 71 in Washington State caused HUGE problems with KnowThyNeighbor when we announced we would be posting names of signers of that antigay petition. This Lurleen living in Washington State called KnowThyNeighbor a carpetbagger while she maintained her presence on the liberal Massachusetts blog BlueMassGroup as another entity “Laurel” trying to influence our politics.So glad to know this mediocre psycho from MA Gay Inc has finally been outed. I am sorry that trans rights are suffering because of her neuroses. And there seem to be many of them

When Lurleen was crazed against KnowThyNeighbor in 2009/10 I contacted Pam Spaulding on her email. Lurleen, not Pam emailed me back immediately telling me that all the Blenders see emails to Pam and how dare I take this up with Pam.Pam Spaulding NEVER emailed me back on any of this and there were multiple emails to her. When I brought this duel personality bit up with The owner of BluMassGroup in MA and told him what was going on, he told me the emails are “off the record” and yet he denied knowing anything. When I told him I wanted to be on the record, he told me if that is indeed my choice he would be forced to go to the parties involved ie Lurleen/Laurel and I assume Pam.What you are exposing here, I believe is alpha netroots and how it tries to control the strategy, the online presence and altering the history of our movement.

While it is not alleged she is being paid by EQWA – others (Autumn – all the guest posters brought in) – disclose their leadership roles in orgs – compensated or not. I don’t believe Autumn is paid for being on the Get Equal Board.

But – not being paid by EQWA – isn’t the superset of all places one could receive compensation from.

Given the astroturfing-sockpuppetting that seems to be going on, I emailed Mr. Lang offline to confirm he’s indeed Mr. Lang.

It’s especially interesting to note that at the same time her alternate identity “Lurleen” was writing some pretty strong condemnations of the work that WhoSigned.org and KnowThyNeighbor.org were talking about during the Ref 71 campaign, work that ERW opposed, “Laurel Ramseyer” was actually on the technology committee of the ERW created Ref 71 campaign.

Now, what appeared to be an independent blogger expressing their own opinion was actually a member of the campaign? This means every statement by “Lurleen” in WA and “Laurel” in MA needs to be re-evaluated in the light of her multiple identities and non-disclosure.

March 03, 2011

It seems that the hard work of Transgender and Transsexual activists inside and outside of Maryland are getting some movement regarding the discriminatory Maryland Bill HB235. Equality Maryland aka "InEquality Maryland" tried to sneak this bill through the Maryland House of Delegates and the Senate WITHOUT including TG/TS people in the "Public Accommodations" part of the bill. Of course EQMD allowed for gays and lesbians to be protected but excluded only transgender and transsexual people who were left on the curb by this bill.

A wave of online activism from blogs such as Transgriot, ENDAblog, TransAdvocate, various Facebook sites and individuals asking for a petition to be signed, as well as TransFM have been exposing the lies and deception and many have called for immediate inclusion of gender identity and expression to be protected in the realm of public accommodations.

Senator Rich Madaleno's below press statement is a clear example of a positive action reacting to the voices of Transgender and Trannsexual individuals and organizations which are no longer going to be duped by the Equality Federation members like EQMD. To this day Equality Maryland has not apologized or provided a game plan to the greater transgender community regarding HB235. But what we may be seeing here is a new game being organized. One in which Transgender and Transsexual people are writing the rules.

I have been the lead sponsor or lead cosponsor of the Gender Identity Antidiscrimination Act for the past four years. In advance of the 2011 Session, I had a bill drafted that is identical to the bill I had introduced previously. This draft prohibited discrimination based on gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations. However, our advocacy coalition asked me to not introduce the bill, preferring a strategy of pursuing a House bill alone. This approach has not diminished my commitment to enacting these much needed protections, and I urge the House of Delegates to pass HB 235, with an amendment that prohibits discrimination against transgender individuals regarding public accommodations.

Providing transgender individuals with basic protections against discrimination is long overdue. Although much of the media attention this legislative session has centered on marriage equality, we cannot let that debate overshadow efforts to enact these essential protections. Protection against discrimination, including gender identity discrimination, is a basic human right. Our state laws must reflect the values of equality and equal opportunity – values that are central to who we are as Americans.

Now is the time for Maryland to join thirteen other states, Washington, D.C., Montgomery County, and Baltimore City in protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of gender identity. In 2007, Governor O’Malley signed an executive order adding protections against discrimination to our state personnel policies. We now must pass a statewide law that protects transgender individuals from discrimination when seeking employment, housing, and public accommodations.

February 13, 2011

Here We Are In February of 2011 And The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Which Was the First in the Nation to Legalize Same Gender Marriage, Which Defeated Attempts to Take Away These Marriage Rights Through a Ballot Initiative Process and Which Has an Attorney General Who is Suing the United States to End DOMA on Behalf of Its Citizens, Still Has Not Been Able to Pass Legislation Protecting Transgender/Transsexual People Against Workplace, Housing, and Public Accomodations Discrimination

My analogy is that we trying to bake a cake. The recipe is correct, everything is mixed, the batter is in a pan in the oven, the oven works, the temperature button is on. Why don't we have a cake? Because the power company has NOT provided any electricity. The ONLY explanation here is that MA Transgender Rights Bill is being blocked from the top down. Someone or some people are not allowing this bill to move forward, be voted on. This month's bombshell in Boston Spirit Magazine of an interview with former Senator and Bill Co-Sponsor Richard Tisei (R) who blames MassEquality for "losing the public relations battle" on the bill and "dropping the ball" which caused the current situation. Tisei also recounts how he helped set up MassEquality to participate in the MA GOP Convention in 2010 by securing MEQ with a booth there and access to events at the convention including parties for networking. According to Tisei, all this was pre-arranged with MassEquality 3 weeks in advance and the day of the Convention MEQ pulled a 'no-show." Instead of being there to combat the onslaught of what Tisei describes as a Kansas-based anti-trans cellphone campaign directed at over 3500 GOP delegates, MassEquality chose to use that day and Charlie Baker's response to the "Bathroom Bill" messaging immediately for its campaign tool to help Deval Patrick win re-election. But probably the most disturbing of the Tisei revelations he alleges against MassEquality is its lack of lobbying with the co-sponsors. That MassEquality "came at the beginning of the legislative session" when they filed the bill, obtained 104 co-sponsors including himself, and then in 2 years, the co-sponsors "never heard from them again." According to Tisei, "They never called. They never did anything. They never asked for help."

Back in August 2010, after the end of the Legislative Session and with no vote having been taken up on the MA Transgender Rights Bill, KnowThyNeighbor attended JTIMA's Prop 8 Day at Copley Square. I was immediately approached by MEQ volunteers "postcarding" for the MA Trans Bill asking for my email address and if I supported the bill. Outraged I took it up with some of the young volunteers and asked, "where the hell were you for the past year?" Dan Hoffer, a MassEquality hire, originally from the Harold Ford campaign and having worked on the Cape Ann part of our marriage fight, now one who deals with legislative work was immediately put on the defensive and told me, "we have 25-30 legislative campaigns we are working on, we cannot be expected to have worked on the Trans Bill too." So, the Lobby Days, the Hearings, the Press Play, the Visibility---all what I call a Potemkin Village.

According to activist, Denise Leclair, in 2003 Transgender/Transsexual people were told to wait until after Goodridge was done with, then from between 2004 and 2007 were told to wait until after we successfully killed the ballot initiative, then were told to wait until after MA got rid of the 1913 Law which prohibited out of state same sex couples from marrying here if their home states did not recognize their marriages (this repeal was in July of 2008). Were Transgender/Transsexual people told to "wait" for so long that now it is just "company policy" to pretend we are working on their rights instead of being truthful? Equality Maryland has no problem it seems leaving TG/TS people out of the public accommodations part of its bill right now as we speak while having all of the LGB(T) messaging centers like Pam's House Blend, Bilerico Project and others promote this bill like its the new wave of trans support coming from our community. But with MassEquality and its messaging centers I guess it was okay to pretend to be giving priority to our bill instead of being truthful on its mission--providing support for 25-30 legislators. Where was BayWindows or any of the other media, including BlueMassGroup, the various blogs, newspapers etc to get to the bottom of what was holding this bill up? NOTHING from any of them.

And this points to my suggestion to all of you to pause and think about this. I personally do not think MassEquality was calling all the shots here. Oh it was complicit all right. Remember my cake analogy from earlier? MassEquality is not the electric company. It is more the oven. This bill was not voted on because the Speaker of the House and the Senate President, both Dems, would not call a vote. There was no "community outrage" directed at either of these two entities which is in and of itself telling-- so let's go up the ladder a little further...John Walsh, MA Dem Party Chair who may not have wanted to lose any votes in various races for Dems? We are being told that many Dems would have taken a hit on this bill. Which I find funny because, 104 leges co-sponsored the bill in a very public record...where was their "hit?" Are we expected to believe that the anti-lgbt groups would make a distinction between sponsorship and voting in their anti-trans messaging? Another thing to note here, in Twelve States and the District of Columbia, where Gender Identity and Expression are part of the anti-discrimination laws, not one state produced a ballot initiative directed to remove these laws by popular vote. So what was the problem? Inquiring minds, pissed off activists like myself and transgender/trannsexual people who have been back-burnered and betrayed want to know.

We still have not been able to identify the man or people behind the curtain, though we can now easily see what room the curtain is hanging in. I throw this out there...Maybe the ladder goes up a little higher to Congress where our own Barney Frank who once removed transgender/transsexual people from the languishing ENDA Bill, has been saying recently that you cannot expect to get a anti-discrimination bill which includes gender identity and expression passed in Congress if you cannot even get it passed in a state like Massachusetts. But my question to Congressman Frank is this..."on that comment, are you stating fact or projecting?"

January 08, 2011

A puzzling, interesting and to many seemingly psychotic turn of events this past week as ENDAblog alleges malfluence perpetrated by "front page" lgbt blogger, Lurleen, at Pam Spaulding's "Pam's House Blend." According to Kathy Padilla, her posts were deleted from Pam's House Blend for daring to question Lurleen if a conflict of interest exists that would stifle or delay Transgender Rights in Washington State or nationally. From ENDAblog and with additional research on ERW's site bios, we find that Lurleen or Lurleen Blogovitch is indeed Laurel Ramseyer, Equal Rights Washington's Communications Director, so there never should have been any issue with "outing" this person. Some in the Transgender Activist Community see much of Gay Inc as "marriage-centric," placing Trans Rights on the back burner and it appears that this may have been Kathleen's concern with Lurleen.

ENDAblog removed this post yesterday, January 8th, but KnowthyNeighbor.org has re-posted it here. The reason for deletion according to ENDAblog was in response to Lurleen's explanation that she "panicked" when she blocked Kathleen and subsequently accidently removed all of Kathleen's posts from the last 5 years. The reasons for Lurleen not responding to Kathleen's emails or others comments and posts were never reasonably explained.

This has become a bit of a personal issue for KnowThyNeighbor as if it is true, and there is no reason to doubt the facts, that Laurel Ramseyer works for Equal Rights Washington then she was indeed acting as a sockpuppet for Josh Friedes at Equal Rights Washington during the Referendum 71 battle which could have redacted by people's amendment the Expanded Domestic Partnership Rights of WA for same gender (and opposite gender couples). I remember Josh Friedes during that fight calling me to tell me that KnowThyNeighbor via our affiliate WhoSigned.org must not post names of the signers of the anti-gay Referendum 71, that "Lurleen" is working on a piece that would criticize our strategy and he asked me in such a way whether I "knew who Lurleen was?" like she was some sort of force to be reckoned with. All the while "Lurleen" was Laurel Ramseyer part of Josh's minions and is now ERW's Communications Direction possibly acting in a consultant capacity.

KnowThyNeighbor.org and WhoSigned.org met the scorn of "Lurleen" but as I said before the surprising thing was that Pam Spaulding was complicit in this. I sent Pam emails asking for an explanation but was not contacted by Pam but instead by Lurleen who bragged that "Blenders" are privy to Pam's emails. KnowThyNeighbor and WhoSigned.org rose up to push the dialogue in Washington State about the necessity of speaking to those who would sign petitions that would take away one's rights. This is just not applicable to marriage equality but to any set of rights, including Transgender Rights which might be forced to be defended in a Ballot Initiative. The Maine Marriage fight and the Washington State Ref 71 were set up to give the illusion of the lgbt response being "homegrown." It was the furthest from homegrown imaginable--it was a union of Gay Inc with the Netroots Bloggers like Spaulding calling the shots on strategy and online media response. KnowThyNeighbor.org was told to "stay out" of WA and ME because I was from Massachusetts. Yet in WA State alone Josh Friedes was from the Massachusetts FTM and part of the MassEquality Coalition, Josh Cohen, ERW/WAFST tech lead/communications heralded from New Jersey, Monies were sent from EQCA by Marc Solomon (though Maine received a substantial amount more), bloggers from around the nation controlled messaging via list serves, and Lurleen made attempts at discrediting KnowthyNeighbor's importance, the least of which was in sending an email calling us "carpetbaggers" while she herself was a MassEquality export and maintained a presence under the pseudonym, Laurel, in the largest liberal Massachusetts blog, BlueMassGroup.com throughout the Ref 71 Campaign. To this day "Laurel" at BMG tries to influence MA politics.

The fight for Equality will take all of our efforts.The leading wins that we have had required all strategies, all lgbt, all allies, engagement of the electorate etc. The Transgender Rights battle with Inclusive ENDA and various statewide Transgender Protection Bills, Marriage Equality and others will require this same strategy--the strategy of "wanting to be treated as Equal Americans." These sockpuppets, power grads, battles of online prowess directed against our activists have got to stop. People like Lurleen Blogovitch aka Laurel Ramseyer would be a much more effective activist if she came out of her own closet of fear and neuroses.

Right now, its just a placeholder – for a post about something that has happened…

something that I saw happen…

something that I have images of…

something that is, well…

totally deranged.

[UPDATE]

Marriage Derangement Syndrome…

Does it cause schizophrenia?

Spontaneous cloning?

Or just conflicts of interest?

Yes Monty, it would be door number three! Now, granted, one can be forgiven for mistaking door number three for door number two:

Of course, you could also be forgiven for getting confused as to whether you’re watching ABC or CBS. You see, I have been using Let’s Make a Dealallusions, but one to The Price is Right is appropos as well – given that if your guess as to the price of your Showcase is close enough to its actual retail price, then you get both Showcases.

And…

When your conflict of interest appears to be creating a fake online identity to mask your involvement (under what one would presume is your real name) with (and what would presume is a vested interest in promoting) same-sex-marriage-primacy when you participate, in a quasi-official capacity, in threads in which you pimp the discredited notion that pushing same-sex-marriage helps trans people as individual trans personsAND using that quasi-official capacity to boot a dissenter who did notactually publish personal information about you but merely publicly inquired as to whether an unidentified someone with certain qualifications ‘A’ might have a conflict of interest by acting in certain capacity ‘B’…

then one can understand why doors two and three might be applicable.

Having said that, I might suggest not asking to see what Jay Stewart has in his box when next he walks down the aisle. My buddy Kathleen mysteriously disappeared.

Words that she had already utttered were un-uttered – but not by her.

Yes, her voice just drifted off into the night…

I’ve still had not even a notice that my account was deleted or a response to my emails asking for info.

…and who knows where her cyber remains might turn up. Perhaps right here at ENDABlog!

She wants to be out about being [Capacity 'B'] & about being the Communications Director working mostly on marriage online have others no be permitted speak of this public info. While at the same time have the ability to link the two publicly for her benefit – but punish others for even questioning whether disclosure is warranted.

Yep…

That Marriage Derangement Syndrome thing is pretty nasty.

Well, I know what people with Marriage Derangement Syndrome don’t give a rat’s ass about: compromise on anything other than trans rights.

And at least one of them doesn’t really seem to get if you out yourself, then when someone else copies or points to what you outed yourself with, then that second personn really isn’t outing you about what you were initially ‘in’ about…

…and, instead, what you’re being outed about is having a major conflict of interest.

And I’m outing her here as having committed an egregious act of transphobic cyber-bullying by (apparently) unilaterally booting Kathleen off of a major LGBT blog after having outed herself via her own references to Equal Rights Washington – which are only one google-laden mouse click away from http://neworganizing.com given that a nice chunk of the bio there is identical to the one at ERW – and her involvement in it and having done so in a forum that anyone could read and multiple-google-click away from. Has she now committed this cyber hate crime against Kathleen because she realized she actually outed herself and erasing Kathleen’s existence at that blog is the only way that she can come close to un-outing herself?

Do a text search on the page from which I took the ERW image snap. The name of the blog in question appears in only one of the bios. If “Lurleen” didn’t out herself in that reply to Kathleen, then she apparently outed some other “front page blogger” at that blog – in which case, it is Lurleen and not Kathleen whose existence should be erased from that blog.

But, that’s not the case.

Look at the photos.

“Lurleen” outed herself – and she apparently not only wants to make Kathleen pay for it but feels that she is so much better than us scummy trans scum that she doesn’t even need to directly inform Kathleen of what she is asserting to be the reason that Kathleen’s existence was erased from that blog.

[S]he acted as the judge in her own complaint? Sweet deal! Very fair.

But, that’s par for the course.

Trans people have been paying the price for the indulgences of people afflicted with Marriage Derangement Syndrome for many years now.

Hmmm…never once thought that the agenda of Gay Inc. would impose itself on the blogosphere by trying to silence a transgender person’s voice. I am shocked and awed!Add to the fact that Laurel Ramseyer is a communications director is just as shocking!

Does Pam of Pam’s House Blend condone this behavior of one of her front page bloggers? Inquiring minds want to know. Transphobia is still transphobia, regardless of the guise.

I emailed Pam & Autumn to ask what happened on Saturday. Autumn said she would get back to me in her response of the same day, Pam has not replied to my email.

Even if they agree with the action – (notice & a warning is indicated by the PHB terms of service – with deletion of that comment) – and I dispute the validity as I redacted Laurel’s name – a response is surely appropriate.

Kath, call me tomorrow if you get a chance. I am fuming over the fact that a paid staffer of an organization is spewing transphobic remarks under a pseudonym and then gets you banned for calling her out on it.It’s not like she is in the closet and you outed her. You outed her for who she really is. A transphobic bigot, posing as an activist! Screw her and any blogger who allows this to happen.

I have no knowledge of whether she actually is or is not – but (1) a lot of people who have damaged our political viability over the years have not actually been paid staffers of any gay org, and (2) we should not give her a ready-made nugget that she can accurately point to and say ‘See! They’re wrong about that, so they must be wrong about everything!’

I sent this over to Bil Browning at Bilerico because his site is one of the key places Lurleen and her codependent, Joe Mirabella, uses to cement their deceit,lies and control into the blogosphere. Browning knows how prevalent they are as posters and commenters and I told him that what happened to Kathleen is a major issue here.

I look forward to Sandeen being erased from Pam’s in all fairness since Sandeen published my full name AND a copyright protected picture of me a couple of years ago when I was on Pam’s under a nick name. This was part of a character assassination of me by Sandeen at the time for being a feminist.

And this same Lurleen who worked on Ref 71 in Washington State caused HUGE problems with KnowThyNeighbor when we announced we would be posting names of signers of that antigay petition. This Lurleen living in Washington State called KnowThyNeighbor a carpetbagger while she maintained her presence on the liberal Massachusetts blog BlueMassGroup as another entity “Laurel” trying to influence our politics.So glad to know this mediocre psycho from MA Gay Inc has finally been outed. I am sorry that trans rights are suffering because of her neuroses. And there seem to be many of them

When Lurleen was crazed against KnowThyNeighbor in 2009/10 I contacted Pam Spaulding on her email. Lurleen, not Pam emailed me back immediately telling me that all the Blenders see emails to Pam and how dare I take this up with Pam.Pam Spaulding NEVER emailed me back on any of this and there were multiple emails to her. When I brought this duel personality bit up with The owner of BluMassGroup in MA and told him what was going on, he told me the emails are “off the record” and yet he denied knowing anything. When I told him I wanted to be on the record, he told me if that is indeed my choice he would be forced to go to the parties involved ie Lurleen/Laurel and I assume Pam.What you are exposing here, I believe is alpha netroots and how it tries to control the strategy, the online presence and altering the history of our movement.

While it is not alleged she is being paid by EQWA – others (Autumn – all the guest posters brought in) – disclose their leadership roles in orgs – compensated or not. I don’t believe Autumn is paid for being on the Get Equal Board.

But – not being paid by EQWA – isn’t the superset of all places one could receive compensation from.

Given the astroturfing-sockpuppetting that seems to be going on, I emailed Mr. Lang offline to confirm he’s indeed Mr. Lang.

It’s especially interesting to note that at the same time her alternate identity “Lurleen” was writing some pretty strong condemnations of the work that WhoSigned.org and KnowThyNeighbor.org were talking about during the Ref 71 campaign, work that ERW opposed, “Laurel Ramseyer” was actually on the technology committee of the ERW created Ref 71 campaign.

Now, what appeared to be an independent blogger expressing their own opinion was actually a member of the campaign? This means every statement by “Lurleen” in WA and “Laurel” in MA needs to be re-evaluated in the light of her multiple identities and non-disclosure.

November 04, 2010

Quick now, name the state with the motto, "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain"!

The answer is Iowa. Tuesday its voters seemed oblivious to that in voting three judges off their Supreme Court bench for their daring to prize the liberties and rights of homosexuals. In last year's unanimous ruling, all seven justices ruled that forbidding same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Iowa votes on retain judges and a simple majority keeps or tosses them.

Iowa had a clear conflict between its comity requirement (595.20) accepting marriages legal in other states (like that MA) and its gender/age statute (595.2) based on the Defense of Marriage Act, stating "Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid." As in other states on this issue and different direct conflicts, the justices didn't have a lot of choice. Liberty, rights, and well, the law, was right in their faces, as reflected in their decision.

As befitting judicial demeanor, the three to be removed (Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Associate Justices Michael Streit and David Baker) issued a statement. The only hint of negativity was a mention of "an unprecedented attack by out-of-state special interest groups" in the months before the this vote, which they in Iowa call the merit selection system.

Back here in Blue Massachusetts, putting high-court judges up for recall seems dreadfully political and likely to prevent impartiality on the bench. Poll based legal reasoning appears far too political.

Regardless, the trio concludes uncontentiously with:

Finally, we hope Iowans will continue to support Iowa’s merit selection system for appointing judges. This system helps ensure that judges base their decisions on the law and the Constitution and nothing else. Ultimately, however, the preservation of our state’s fair and impartial courts will require more than the integrity and fortitude of individual judges, it will require the steadfast support of the people.

Coming up looks like an embittering battle worthy of our own agon here against overturning our Supreme Judicial Court ruling affirming same-sex marriage. The Iowa Senate is alone in an equally split (25-25) Senate against Republican House and Governor. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal says there'll be no vote on the subject. As the Register reports:

Gronstal believes the right thing means protecting the civil rights of gays and lesbians. He reaffirmed Wednesday that he won't bow to pressure, no matter how nasty it gets.

"The easy political thing for me to do years ago would have been to say, 'Oh, let's let this thing go. It's just too political and too messy,' " Gronstal said. "What's ugly is giving up what you believe in, that everybody has the same rights. Giving up on that? That's ugly."

Those not so hot on separation of powers and inclined to limit rights to selected groups crowed about the people speaking, while LGBT-rights advocates decried politicizing the courts.

In an amusing thread lost in the rural fury, existing Dem. Gov. Chet Culver is likely to be the one to appoint three replacement judges, not erstwhile and resurrected Gov. Terry Branstad. The latter wants a DOMA-style constitutional amendment.

Iowa was the third state in the nation to go for marriage equality. Those who respect the state motto are in for a fight on maintaining liberties and rights.